


Pages

by Measured



Category: 999: Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors - Fandom
Genre: Established Relationship, Hope, M/M, Reading Aloud, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-09
Updated: 2013-06-09
Packaged: 2017-12-14 09:58:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/835621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Measured/pseuds/Measured
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Light leaned into him. The pressure soft, his hair a distracting touch against Junpei's neck. Light's hand gently gripped his arm. The same hands which had held him down, and held him through nightmares.</p><p>"I never worried; you always keep your promises, even if you have to move heaven and earth to do them–quite literally, might I add," Light said.</p><p>Junpei chuckled at this. Leave it to Light to always have the last witty line in any situation. He began to read about eyes marking the shape of a city, about a world where a girl could slip into the dark and disappear into shadows completely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pages

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jarenth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jarenth/gifts).



> Inspired by one of the conversations in the library, where Snake says that if there was more time, he would ask Junpei to read one of the books to him.
> 
> This doesn't take into account the sequel as I haven't played it.

Junpei walked the last few stops from the bus stop with a book held under his arm.

Truth be told, Junpei wasn't too into reading, or at least not the way Light was. He couldn't study with the effortless genius that Light could manage, sailing above everyone else without even tiring. For Junpei, it was a long climb up a slippery mountain. And after cramming for hours for the next exam, the last thing he wanted to do was want to read about Riemann's Hypophysis, or the other deep, intellectual subjects Light wanted to read about. Being with Light, though, it sort of limited the sort of things they could do together. He couldn't exactly get Light to play video games with him, go to a movie or an amusement park, or take him to a sports game. Light probably wasn't into that sort of thing, anyways. But reading, well that was something they could both do, and even share together, if Junpei read aloud. Light found such activities utterly soothing, and endlessly fascinating. It was kind of sad, with so much knowledge being denied him. Only so many books had audio or braille versions.

So, today, Junpei tried for a compromise. Mostly because if he did not want to hear another thing about math for the next fifty years after that final. Honestly, if Light started waxing poetic about math and all its subjects, Junpei would have to kiss him quiet just for the sake of his poor mashed-from-exams brain.

Not that he wouldn't, anyways.

When Junpei returned back to Light's house, Light was already there, sitting on the couch and slightly leaning forward, as if he had dozed off. 

Light had this habit of letting himself in and not announcing his presence, and then just _being_ there, and Junpei would only notice after the fact that he was not alone in his apartment, and nearly have a heart attack in the process. It would be typical significant other behavior, except that after the Nonary games–or at least, the way in which Junpei got into the Nonary games–meant that Junpei tended to be easily freaked by the merest hint that someone else could be in his apartment unaware. When he heard a noise, he never dismissed it as the wind anymore.

They probably all were. He knew Seven slept with a pistol right close to his bed, and he'd been teaching Lotus how to shoot. Junpei was thinking about getting a taser, as guns still made him feel uneasy.

Light tilted his head up as Junpei came closer. Good, he was awake. Last time Light had dozed off and Junpei had to wake him, Junpei had ended up pinned on the floor, and not in a sexy way, either.

Okay, it was kind of sexy. Except he had to cover up the marks on his neck with a high collar for days after that. 

"Junpei," he murmured. There was relief and affection in his voice. His lips curved into a slight smile as Junpei came nearer.

"I'm back, and I brought you something," he said.

Light tilted his head towards Junpei, listening. 

He handed over the book, which Light took and felt over.

"Careful, don't give yourself a paper cut," Junpei said.

"It feels slim. A novel, perhaps? Either way, there is no braille, so it is one you'll be reading," Light said. He handed it back to Junpei, his fingers lingering a moment over Junpei's. Even though he'd known Light a while, just a touch still made his whole body tingly.

"Yeah, that's why I got it. It's _After Dark_ by Haruki Murakami," Junpei said.

"Interesting choice," Light said.

"Do you know of him?" Junpei said.

"Ah, no...I've heard things, but never read," Light said.

Light wasn't much into modern novels. It was all facts and knowledge and classics with him. 

"It was recommended by the guy at the bookstore. I've never read Haruki Murakami before, but the guy said he was a good choice."

Junpei left out the part where he had to play the Explaining My Situation Game. After the Nonary Games, Junpei had learned to keep certain things to himself, unless he wanted to be carted off to a nice white cell of his own. And well, there were some things that people just didn't need to know. These days, when he was looking for recommendations, he'd just say "my lover is like Megumi-chan on All's To Us." And they'd imagine a brainy, slightly smug girl who read all the time. 

It was a whole lot easier than saying _my significant other is a blind genius who I met in the Nonary games, which would be a death game, except this one was fake so I could save my friend in the past._

There was a reason he didn't explain his life to those who hadn't been there anymore.

"I promised I'd read to you back then, and with finals I haven't had much of a time to do much of anything," Junpei said.

Light leaned into him. The pressure soft, his hair a distracting touch against Junpei's neck. Light's hand gently gripped his arm. The same hands which had held him down, and held him through nightmares.

"I never worried; you always keep your promises, even if you have to move heaven and earth to do them–quite literally, might I add," Light said.

Junpei chuckled at this. Leave it to Light to always have the last witty line in any situation. He began to read about eyes marking the shape of a city, about a world where a girl could slip into the dark and disappear into shadows completely.

A world which was all too real to them. 

Light was a tether, a hold. He pushed Junpei to finish his studies, listened to his bad jokes and helped him make sense of a world gone senseless.

It seemed so illogical that they would end up like this, a domestic scene on the edge of a wasteland. If the Nonary games had taught him anything, nothing was logical in a world of Morphogenetic fields and death games played by children. 

He didn't regret those nine hours or the way they turned out. Doors had been opened to him, he felt connected through the fields to the people he'd met. 

Only Santa and Akane weren't here, but after his studies, Light and he would set out. They would find her and open those doors until they too could find comfort in a book, in a mundane story of the day, in a ray of sunlight or a warm day.

And with a genius like Light to help guide him, how could they fail?


End file.
